seriously lets find a way to break ties- i know its all relative to whoever is #1- but im sure there is a way----maybe make rep scores 1-10 instead of 1-5? that might allow a little more seperation--- maybe use both lsat median and midpt in determing the lsat amount

Eh, like others said it really shouldnt be a big deal. That being said i think all of us think about it and it could color some of our judgments. UNLV looks a lot less attractive this year rather than last, even though nothing's really changed. I feel a little warmer to colorado since they moved up 5 spots. I really dont think any schools are shooting stars headed towards the T14 or any T1s are headed to T4.

Ultimately the new rankings will not effect most Fall 2006 applicants whose timetable on making a decision is looming as we speak. A 3 spot drop, or 5 spot rise in the opinion of USNews should not make your top choice school that is in the city you want to be less compelling of a choice, or suddenly stimulate your desire to go to the artifically "best" ranked school you got into.

Yet as we all scrutinize the new list, digging for meaning and questioning the randomness to which the World Report dictates its authority on our opinions of Law School, one has to ponder the methods to their madness. For starters, why is Hastings, a school that I (and many others) would assume to be entirely too prestigious for its T-43 ranked, so "low" on the list?

I imagine the rankings thus, have little effect on anyone at this stage late in the game, but the long term effects on undergraduate students will be substantial. The kids starting to think about Law School and opening up the USNews Rankings for the first time as we speak will perceive certain schools whose rankings have fluctuated significantly in the last few years with a completly different eye than those of us who were exposed to the outdated and thus "inaccurate" rankings when we (class of '09) first began.

It makes me feel better about the decision I was going to make anyway. It looks like I'm going to pick Emory over Georgia, which was #32 over #36. Now that I'm picking #26 over #34, I can list that as a reason. (Even though it's really not - Emory's just going to be better for me personally.)

I'm not sure if it will ultimately change my decision but I was leaning towards going to Catholic over Temple, but now I don't know if I feel comfortable with that. Temple has continued to rise and Catholic just dropped to T3.

seriously lets find a way to break ties- i know its all relative to whoever is #1- but im sure there is a way----maybe make rep scores 1-10 instead of 1-5? that might allow a little more seperation--- maybe use both lsat median and midpt in determing the lsat amount

seriously lets find a way to break ties- i know its all relative to whoever is #1- but im sure there is a way----maybe make rep scores 1-10 instead of 1-5? that might allow a little more seperation--- maybe use both lsat median and midpt in determing the lsat amount

midpoint=median.

Depends on how define midpoint. A range of numbers 1 to 10 has a midpoint 5. But if the set is 1,2,2,2,6,10, then the median is 2. If you mean midpoint as in "middle number," then 2 is the midpoint. If you mean midpoint as in "point in the middle of the range" then it's 5. Of course, if the numbers are equally distributed (say, consecutive) then midpoint always = median = mean.

seriously lets find a way to break ties- i know its all relative to whoever is #1- but im sure there is a way----maybe make rep scores 1-10 instead of 1-5? that might allow a little more seperation--- maybe use both lsat median and midpt in determing the lsat amount

midpoint=median.

Depends on how define midpoint. A range of numbers 1 to 10 has a midpoint 5. But if the set is 1,2,2,2,6,10, then the median is 2. If you mean midpoint as in "middle number," then 2 is the midpoint. If you mean midpoint as in "point in the middle of the range" then it's 5. Of course, if the numbers are equally distributed (say, consecutive) then midpoint always = median = mean.

Fair enough.

Midpoint is a highly manipulable data piece, then, and shouldn't be used.